More Quebec Anglophones live in poverty than Francophones, per capita: study

A study recently released by the Association for Canadian Studies claims that Quebec’s Anglophone population is worse off financially than their French-speaking neighbours.

According to the study, which is based on data gathered in the 2016 census, Anglophones are more likely to live in poverty than Francophones, with an even worse situation for the province’s Allophones.

According to the study, nearly a quarter of Allophones – people whose mother tongue is neither English nor French – are low-income, while 16 per cent of Anglophones and 13 per cent of Francophones meet that criteria.

In Montreal, the poverty rate for Allophones is 17 per cent, 13 per cent for Anglophones and 10 per cent for Francophones.

Study author Jack Jedwab say poverty among the Anglophone community has "always been an issue, but the gaps to me seem to be more pronounced in 2016 than I would have anticipated."

The trend is also reflected in the province’s unemployment rate – six per cent for Francophones, eight per cent for Anglos and 10 per cent for Allophones.

Jedwab said the Anglophone community has evolved, with many more English speakers coming from visible minority groups or are recent immigrants.

He said the Quebec government’s newly announced $3 billion anti-poverty plan needs to target language minorities with better job training and income support.

“Let’s do a little more homework to figure out which Quebecers are living in poverty and look more deeply at the factors contributing to poverty rates among the communities that are experiencing poverty,” he said. “Let’s sensitize Quebecers… as to who is living in poverty so we don’t make generalizations and assumptions that would be counterproductive in terms of generating an effective anti-poverty strategy.”

The study has received some governmental attention. On Tuesday, Quebec’s minister responsible for Anglophones Kathleen Weil called the study “useful” on Twitter.